Page 61 of A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart)

“Whatever you do, donotremove your hood.”

It continued to pour as Jacks reached for her cloak and tugged its hood down so that it practically covered her eyes.

“I can barely see.” Evangeline lifted her hood so that it wasn’ta complete blindfold. “What about you? You don’t even have a cloak.”

“I don’t need a cloak.”

“You’re just as recognizable as I am. And you have a woman tied to you.”

“I’m very aware of that,” Jacks grumbled. “Just follow my lead and go along with whatever I say.”

Before Evangeline could ask another question, he opened the door.

The inn was not covered in the quilts Evangeline had imagined, but it was quaint and inviting from what she could see.

Wooden beams crisscrossed a ceiling covered in mismatched glass lanterns that looked like little lost stars as they illuminated stairs to right and to left, and then a hallway down the center that led to a quiet tavern full of grainy lantern light. It must have been quite late, for the tavern’s only patrons were a couple talking quietly over half-empty mugs of ale and a fluffy white cat drinking milk from a saucer on one end of the bar.

“How can I help you two?” said the barkeeper.

“We need a room for the night.” Jacks lifted their tied wrists, covering Evangeline’s face. “I believe you’ve been expecting us. I wrote earlier this week to reserve a room for myself and my new bride.”

Bride.

The word conjured a host of feelings, a fluttering of her chest, and a spinning of her head. She liked hearing him say the wordbridemore than she probably should have, but he’d also said that he’d written earlier this week.

Jacks had planned this—and Jacks’s plans never ended well.

Evangeline couldn’t remember why she felt this way. She tried to remember some things that Jacks had planned in the past. But all she could remember was how Jacks’s pulse had raced just outside and how he’d told her before that she shouldn’t stare at him. And she now had a sudden and terrible feeling about this plan.

“Ready, love? Or would you like me to carry you?” he said.

Now all Evangeline could hear was the wordlove.She told herself Jacks was only acting, playing a role for whatever scheme he’d put together. But Evangeline was a little breathless as he sliced the rope binding their wrists and then effortlessly lifted her into his arms.

Her heart thudded as he climbed the stairs. She loved the feel of his arms, but she couldn’t shake off the feeling that something else she did not love was going on.

“Jacks, what are you planning?” she whispered. “Why did you bring me here? Why are we pretending to be married?”

“You ask a lot of questions.”

“Only because you do a lot of questionable things.”

He ignored her as they reached the second floor of the inn. Halfway down the hall, a door was cracked. Grainy candlelight spilled through into the hall. When Jacks stepped through, the other side looked anything but sinister.

The room was a cottage dream. Everything was green and gold and pink.

Flickering glass lanterns with emerald-green glass hung on either side of a bed with a headboard carved to look like a flowering tree. The coverlet on it was a soft shade of forest green and covered in pale pink petals. The petals were strewn on the wooden floor as well, and the mantel of a fireplace where a few logs quietly burned filled the room with a gentle glow.

Evangeline felt Jacks’s chest move as he took a deep breath. His heart was racing again, and now so was hers. But she feared it was for a different reason than his.

Time seemed to slow as he carried her toward the bed. The air was warm from the fire and sweet from all the flower petals, and everything looked perfectly dreamlike.

Except for Jacks.

He wasn’t looking at her. In fact, he seemed to be looking anywhere but at her as he carefully laid her down on the bed.

Then he was reaching toward the straps on his legs where he secured his knives.

“What are you doing?” Evangeline scrambled to her knees as Jacks retrieved a small pewter vial that she hadn’t noticed before. “What is that?” she asked nervously.

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